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3dogslater

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  1. I'd worry more about using all "T" words - table, teeter, tire, tunnel, touch, target etc. We do a lot of gamble work in the AAC and at a distance I may need a verbal discrimination. I use box, teeter, hoop, tunnel, and point. I tried using through for the tunnel but it just didn't make sense while I was running. There also aren't very many tunnel/teeter discriminations, unlike the other contact obstacles. I've also switched commands for some things - Chester and Sophie have a scramble (A-frame) and tag (target command), Zephyr has a frame and point. I sometimes forget when I'm running and one or the other will come out.
  2. I use "go" to send the dog forward on their current path, "out" to send them away from me laterally, and "away" to turn them 180' to an obstacle away from me. You could also use here or turn or tight or any other word that will make sense to you. I use "turn" on my two older dogs to get them to turn tight. My youngest dog has a verbal left and right, although I try to handle the turns rather than rely just on verbals. I also have a verbal collection cue that I can use if I'm not there to show the dog collection. Words can also be situation specific - out is also my word when I want the dogs out of the kitchen.
  3. I see a couple things that made this entirely predictable and therefore preventable. You have a dog with a history of noise and movement issues, who didn't like teeters and when she finally started doing a wooden teeter, you put her on an entirely new teeter *in competition* and expected her to sail over it when it might as well have been an entirely new obstacle she'd never seen before. JMO, but this makes your instructor an idiot twice over. First, in four years of trialing I have seen one wooden teeter and countless metal teeters, including every teeter used at Regionals and Nationals (I realize this may differ based on where you live but clearly you have metal teeters too). Second, if you have lots of dogs having issues with the same thing, I would venture a guess that the issue is the instructor. How did your instructor teach the teeter in the first place? Train it like you would a new obstacle. She's sound sensitive so you need to teach her bang games or similar so she'll learn to love noise. She's movement sensitive so you need to desensitize her to that. You can get her to do the teeter between two tables, or teach it low and increase the height, or play teeter surfing games...there are a few ways to teach really good teeters. You need to find a variety of teeters to practice on - not all metal teeters are the same. Some are heavy steel, some light, some aluminum. Some have rubber coatings, some rubber sheets, some sand grit. Some have wood surfaces and others have sheet aluminum. For a solid dog who has no sound or movement or height issues, these variations are probably not going to cause much of an issue and some people can train on one teeter and have their dog do great on all teeters. As an instructor, I've found that most teeter issues are from pushing the dog too fast before they understand and are comfortable with each step.
  4. *cough*bitch*cough* I am too short, too poor and too heavy to ever be considered the Paris Hilton of anything! Besides, Zephyr doesn't fit in my purse! I don't think you'll be able to convince Joe and Jane Public that their dog is not a border collie and shouldn't be called that because of a lack of herding ability. If you look at the majority of the dogs in the working and herding and sporting groups, they are no longer able to do what they were bred to do, yet still look (somewhat) like the same dog. Nobody is arguing that the "pet" and "show" goldens are not golden retrivers, although most of them would never be able to do real hunt work. You're trying to make that argument with people who have bought in to the show world and no amount of talking about purpose and ability is likely to change their minds. The OP asked why people would want a sport collie, and from somebody who is very involved in the sport world and only dabbles in herding - because the dogs being bred are perceived (rightly or wrongly) as possessing the traits necessary to succeed in the sport. Big name handlers like Linda Mecklenberg take a dog (Stellar) from a sport kennel (Rival) and do extremely well with that dog. They then breed that dog to another sport dog (Neat, also from Rival) and get litters that are also very successful sport dogs (Super, among others). For people who want to succeed at dog sports, they see that as proof that you can breed for the characteristics that make a successful sport dog. When placements at international competitions are decided by 100's of seconds, and first to 20th can be less than a second, people are eager to grasp at any advantage. The trainers like Linda M would likely do just as well with any working bred border collie but that is not what is seen by your average competitor. I don't think that the majority of people who are only interested in dog sports care if their dog can herd, much less do well at the open level. Neither the breeders nor the purchasers make a correlation between success in agility and success in herding because they are (at least so far) seeing success in their breeding programs for the traits that are important to them.
  5. Along the lines of the Australian Kelpie and the Australian Working Kelpie? I can see where sport breeders think they are doing just that. Their "work" is a combination of speed, bidability, structure, temperament, tested at trials designed to evaluate based solely on performance and not looks. The characteristics valued by working breeders overlap many of the ones persued by sport breeders, however they are evaluated against a different set of tests. I understand that for a working breeder, herding ability trumps all else. For a sport breeder, agility/flyball is their standard. Dogs who win at Nationals and Worlds, dogs who run well under 4.0 in flyball, dogs with huge yps - from a sport breeders perspective, they are breeding dogs who can do the "work" to increase their chances of getting pups who can do the "work". There are crappy sport breeders and the huge dollars people are willing to pay for a flashy dog is a big part of that problem. (before anybody jumps down my throat, I have three rescues that I do agility with, none of them working or sport bred, although the dog I got from That'll Do Border Collie Rescue could be considered a candy colour because he is brindle)
  6. Only if I get to keep him if I succeed! Your little unwanted brindle Dwarf puppy did me proud at Superdogs...managed to nail his weaves with 10,000 screaming people and pounding rock music, and consistently turned in wickedly fast times. Whether or not he remembers his turning cues remains to be seen but he's a sweet Superdog already. Zephyr should make his debut at the Hallowe'en Kee-Gigg trial...paws crossed for that!
  7. I'd save your money on both the practice tunnel and the teeter If the tunnel is fabric, it won't teach dogs to drive though and bank - they'll have to run slowly to keep their feet on the floor instead of the walls, and there will be a lot more movement which can slow down a drivey dog, and upset a soft dog. As for the teeter, I don't think that the slamming of a teeter is all that safe for a puppy either. I'd make a wobble board instead. You can work on motion and noise without the impact, as well as teaching shaping skills and hind end awareness. It would depend entirely on the skill of the instructor. I don't see any harm in introducing dogs to fun activities with their owners, building a relationship, etc. I introduced my pup to tunnels and planks and wobble boards, tugging around distrations, target work, shadow handling, flatwork etc. You don't want your puppy to learn that when they are around equipment they can run around like idiots, playing with other dogs As as instructor, I find that people are in a huge rush to start their dog on equipment, and to start sequencing obstacles. I find that it is much less of an issue when people are working with their second dog than their first.
  8. Puppies have lots of extra skin - I wouldn't worry about the skin. She does look a bit chubby in the first photo in particular - I'd be more worried about that than her skin
  9. Chester does Superdogs, agility, as well as squirrel and rodent hunting. He's got his novice Rally title but we haven't trained or trialed since 2006 (there's only been one trial in the area). Sophie does Superdogs, agility, freestyle and has her Novice and Advanced Rally titles. I'd love to do more Rally with her and we will hopefully get trials around here in 2009. Zephyr is training in agility, disk, freestyle and will be starting in flyball and rally. He's not competing yet but will make his agility debut this fall, and just finished a 17 day run with the Superdogs at the PNE. Belle is our CPX - couch potato excellent
  10. IMO, no. Your dog is so young - work on flatwork, focus, target training, wraping around objects, tricks and games, socializing and manners and basic obedience. The actually agility training will come much more quickly if you have a strong foundation. You don't need to start doing obstacle work at 6 months to have an amazing agility dog. YES! Your dog will learn to run between the "gate", not learning to bend their body, in effect the same thing and running down a wide channel for a long period of time. The beauty of both methods is the ability to progress quickly in small steps towards the finished product. The training goes so quickly there is no need to start a dog before they are 12 months old. You will sometimes see dogs who stay at the "two gates almost in line" stage have problems progressing to six poles because for so long there has only been four poles. Once a dog has the idea on two gates, I like using a very narrow set of channels (in a different training session) to encourage the dog to focus forward for a long set of poles. I will also use channels to encourage foot work, although I do 99% of the weave training on 2x2s. There is a big difference between a dog playing and doing his own thing and learning to use his body, and a human having the dog repeat a specific movement over and over and over, like with weave training.
  11. IMO, that's far too long to leave the weaves 4" apart. The dog has had eight months of blasting through poles without having to really bend his body. One key issue I see with channel trained dogs (including one of my own) is that they tend to not have very much respect for the poles and will slam their bodies through the weaves. Chester suffered through every method out there at the time - push-pull, luring, shaping, straight poles with wires, weave-a-matic, channels, channels with wires. Sophie was taught channels, and Zephyr was taught 2x2. Even though he's only two, his weaves are by far the best. He understands entries, lateral distance, focus despite distractions including thrown frisbees (his favourite toy), past food etc. I didn't introduce weave training until he was 16 months old and his weaves were trial ready in under three months and we took it slow. If I had trained his weaves once or twice a day for five minutes, I'm sure we could have been done in half the time. Once we had the four poles down, it only took two days to get him from 4-12-18 poles. I've seen world class weaves trained with every method out there, and you'll find people behind each method who swear that their method is the best. Find one that makes sense to you and that you feel comfortable teaching.
  12. Veterans also has no spreads, lower frame. You are given more time for Standard, Jumpers, Steeplechase and Team. You are given more time for your closing for your gamble, and require fewer points in your opening. Vets in snooker require fewer points but are given the same time as Regular and Specials dogs. You can go directly to Vets once your dog is over seven, or if your dog is five and has competed in Specials for at least one year. Since your dog is 9, you can run in Regular at 22", Specials at 16", Veterans at 16" or Veterans at 10". Once you enter your dog in Veterans, you cannot move back to Specials or Regular, however you can choose to trial at 16" or 10" for each trial. If your dog is running at 10" Vets, you also get mini dog time in addition to the extra time for vets. Doesn't help with Gamblers unless your dog is slower
  13. Hey - Chester just had an entire weekend without an off-course tunnel! (the wild fling out to jumps after the tunnel we just won't mention...)
  14. Woohoo Dean! There's something special about the first Q Sophie and Chester's first Qs were also in Tunnelers!
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